Global Week of Student Prayer 2019

Today marks the beginning of the Global Week of Student Prayer.

It is a time set aside to focus on praying for students, schools, teachers, and administrators.

The highlight of this week is Wednesday, September 25th, (7 a.m. local time) when students all over the country will gather at their school’s flag pole to pray together.

This year’s theme is “if…”.

It references the verse 2 Chronicles 7:14:

if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (NIV)

I encourage you to spend time this week praying for our schools and their leaders.

Please also pray for Christian students to show up and pray that morning.

Pray they are a light in the darkness for the others to see.

Ask the Father to give them the words they need to share His love with their fellow students.

Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders. It’s imperative we cover them in prayer as they grow so they will become the person God has called them to be.

 

If you would like more information, please check out the See You At the Pole website by clicking here.

 

 

Category: Faith, Life, Prayer | LEAVE A COMMENT

How to Give Thanks

I recently wrote about the need to give thanks in all circumstances (read that post here).

We saw from 1 Thessalonians 5:18 how we are to give thanks in all situations, whether good or bad, big or small.

The question, then, is:

“What does it mean to give thanks, and how do you do it?”

To give thanks means just what it says, to say thank you from a feeling of appreciation for what someone has done.

When we tell God thank you, it’s our way of letting Him know we see and appreciate Him and how He is working in our lives.

We are to be thankful for His sacrifice of Jesus, for the salvation it offers, and that this gift has provided a way for us to be rescued from ourselves and our sins.

We are to:

“give thanks to God because He is good and His love endures forever.” Psalm 107:1 (NIV)

Not only is the above verse true, it’s so important that it or a verse very similar to it is repeated in the Scriptures several times!

If you’re not sure how to go about doing it, you can follow these steps to say thank you to God:

1-Humble your heart and realize that God does deserve to be thanked for what He has done, is doing, and will do.

2-From the deepest part of you, look to God and at what He has done for you personally.

3-Pick one thing and say something along the lines of, “God, thank you for _____,” and tell Him what it is you are thankful for. You can do it silently or out loud, whichever you are more comfortable with.

It’s that simple.

If you don’t know what to start with, try thanking Him for any one of these:

You have a job, a place to stay, a vehicle, a meal to eat today, a sibling you are close to, $3 in your pocket. You saw a bird outside, it rained, it didn’t rain, the clouds are out, the sun is out, you have a pair of shoes to wear, you have water to bathe in at home. You got to go to lunch with a friend, you got to visit with your grandparent, you went on a trip, you got to stay home and rest.

You get the idea.

Don’t worry if you aren’t good at it. Don’t worry if it feels odd.

Just pick something and try it. The more you do it, the easier it will become.

The more you do this, the more you will begin to see just how much He is working in your life and all around you.

You might even consider keeping a journal of the things you are thankful for. This will give you a chance to look back at the good things going on in your life so that when you are down you can be reminded of just how faithful and generous God really is.

The important thing is to daily tell God how thankful you are and how much you appreciate Him.

So, tell me, what are you thankful for today?

 

For further reading
1 Thessalonians 5:18 Give thanks in all circumstances
Psalm 107:1 Give thanks to the Lord
Psalm 136:1 Give thanks to the Lord
Psalm 136:3 Give thanks to the Lord

 

 

Category: God, Prayer, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT

Praying Scriptures

I like to include Scriptures in my prayers during my personal prayer time.

I find it helps me to better understand the meaning of the verse.

It also helps me apply and understand it in a very personal way. It’s as if it makes it come more alive in my life.

Another thing it does is remind me of the truth of what God has promised.

When I pray back a Scripture to Him, I am reminding myself that I can trust God and rely on what He has said.

I am also asking Him to keep that particular promise.

It is not that He can’t be trusted to keep His promises, or that if I don’t specifically pray that verse it won’t happen.

It’s that by repeating the promise and asking Him to fulfill it, I am recognizing that as the Creator of the Universe and all that is in it, God alone is the One who can make it happen.

By repeating them, I am acknowledging God’s authority and superiority as I submit my life and plans to Him.

So, how do you do that?

How do you pray the Scriptures?

It’s very easy.

1-Choose the Scripture you want to pray.

2-Personalize it to make it coming from you to God, if necessary. Not all verses need this.

3-Add it in to your prayer and speak it to God, either silently or aloud.

 

Here’s an example.

You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek You;
I thirst for You,
my whole being longs for You,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.  Psalm 63:1 (NIV)

For this one, you can either just repeat it as it’s written, or else you can paraphrase it and say,

“You’re my God,
I am earnestly* seeking You;
I’m thirsty for You,
All of me wants Your presence,
in a dry and parched** land
where there is no water***.”

 

Now, let’s look at one I would personalize:

Truly my soul finds rest in God;
    my salvation comes from Him.
2 Truly He is my rock and my salvation;
    He is my fortress, I will never be shaken. Psalm 62:1-2 (NIV)

 

For this one, I might pray:

My soul really does find rest in You, God;
I know my salvation comes from You.
2 You really are my rock and my salvation;
Because you are my fortress I will never be shaken.

In this paraphrase, I am saying the same thing, but I am making it personal and applying it to my life and how it affects me personally.

Can you see how the subtle changes keep the truth of the verse, but better show what the Scriptures are saying to me personally, and how they actually affect and apply to me?

To me, it makes them come alive and shows me just who God is and how He thinks about things.

This in turn causes me to better understand God and want to draw closer to Him and build a stronger relationship with Him.

 

Remember, praying Scriptures isn’t some mysterious thing.

It’s an opportunity to humbly go to God and let Him know I am reading His word and I’m seeking to communicate with Him about things He has said in His book, the Bible.

 

I encourage you to try praying a verse of Scripture in your next quiet time. You might be surprised at just how much it draws you closer to Him!

Let me know how it goes. I’d really like to hear about your experience!

 

*earnestly means sincerely, intensely, with great seriousness – you can pray these words instead of earnestly if that is better for you

**parched means drought-stricken, desert-like

***the water in this instance is referring to God’s Spirit and presence.

 

 

Category: Prayer, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT

Isaiah 41:10

Someone in my life occasionally makes my life difficult for no apparent reason.

I’m not sure why but nothing I do ever pleases them.

To make matters worse, for a lot of reasons it is not someone I can just walk away from.

The last few days have been some of those days when they made things tough.

Yesterday was especially stressful.

I spent an entire day upset, almost to the point of tears.

I kept asking God, “Why is this happening?”, and, “Why won’t You do something?”.

Continue reading

Category: Faith, Prayer | LEAVE A COMMENT

National Day of Prayer

Today is the National Day of Prayer.

It’s a day we come together and turn to God in prayer, interceding for our nation’s leaders and its families.

This Year’s theme is,”Love One Another”.

Please take a few minutes, either at one of the many events all over the country or in your own quiet time, to pray and ask God to help, strengthen, protect, and guide our leaders and our families. Ask God to turn their hearts back to Him and the path He has laid out.

Ask God to change us to a nation of people who love one another and care for each other the way He has designed us to.

If you would like more information on the National Day of Prayer please click here.

 

Category: Holiday, Prayer | LEAVE A COMMENT